CITY AND ARSENAL

Ahead of the Bluebirds’ Barclays Premier League meeting with the Gunners at Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday, we take a look back to some of our more recent meetings with Arsenal over the years.

24th January, 2009 – Cardiff City 0 Arsenal 0 – Ninian Park, 20,079

Largely, our most recent competitive outings have come in the cups. Our last meeting here in Cardiff came in am FA Cup Fourth Round tie in the 2008-09 season when a Ninian Park crowd of 20,079 saw a 0-0 draw to force a FA Cup replay.

It was a game that saw Aaron Ramsey make his first return to Cardiff City and Ninian Park since his summer departure in 2008 in a keenly contested game that saw the Gunners fans take up the entire Grange End due to FA Cup rules.

The replay was originally scheduled for 3rd February but was postponed due to snow and ice in the streets surrounding the Emirates Stadium with the game eventually taking place on 16th February in front of 57,237.

It was a match that saw the return to action of Arsenal’s Croatian International forward Eduardo da Silva following a broken leg sustained in February 2008. He marked his return with two goals (including a penalty) in our 4-0 defeat.

Eduardo left Arsenal at the end of 2009/10 and currently plays for Shakhtar Donetsk.

Our previous meeting came in the 2005-06 season where the Bluebirds made the trip to Highbury for an FA Cup Third Round tie on 7th January 2006.
It proved to be the last-ever FA Cup match to be played at Arsenal’s former home before they moved to the newly-completed Emirates Stadium at the end of that season.

City were by then a Championship (second tier) side, with the Gunners in the top four of the Premier League – in fact they have never been relegated from the top level since being elected to the old Division one in 1919. City remained competitive throughout at Highbury in front of a 6,000 strong travelling army of City supporters in the old clock end. The Bluebirds went on to lose 2-1 despite a late Cameron Jerome goal.